Foul Play

Thirty

Stone and Dino sat in the library with Shep, Phil, and two of the security detail, listening once again to Shep’s account of the events of the night before. Stone was very impressed with how calmly Shep and Phil had handled themselves after the rude shock of having been shot at.

“Did anybody get the name of the Hinckley boat?”

“No,” Shep said. “And the captain stressed that it wasn’t necessarily the Hinckley model 43, that was just an approximate length.”

“Pity about not having the boat’s name,” Dino said.

“Oh,” Shep said. “One of the crew got the Hinckley’s hailing port: it was Wilmington, Delaware.”

Stone and Dino exchanged a glance.

“Ah, I get it,” Shep said. “Our purchaser was a Delaware corporation.”

“Correct,” Stone said. “Tell me,” he said to the security people, “are there any very large yachts moored in Edgartown?”

“I don’t know,” the woman said, “but I can call the harbormaster and find out. Why do you want to know?”

“Because a Hinckley 43 is a nice boat — I own one — but it’s not nice enough to massage the ego of the kind of person we’re dealing with. It could, however, be a tender to a very large yacht.”

“A forty-three-foot tender?” Shep said.

“If your yacht is one hundred fifty feet, that would make perfect sense,” Stone said. “You’d sometimes have a lot of guests, and there would be a lot of work for a boat of forty-three feet to do. They might even have a pair. What color was the hull of the Hinckley?”

“Dark — blue or black.”

The security agent excused herself, then came back after a few minutes. “A two-hundred-footer came in yesterday morning,” she said. “She was too big for the available space in the marina, so she’s anchored across the harbor. Her name is Nostrovia, which is an English misspelling of a Russian name I can’t even spell: it’s a toast — literally, ‘Let’s get drunk.’ ”

“Ah,” Stone said.

“Oh, and she has two tenders, both Hinckley 43s, dark blue.”

“Well,” Dino said. “Now we know who we’re dealing with.”

“What’s the length of Breeze, Stone?” Shep asked.

“One hundred twenty-five feet,” Stone replied.

“Let’s sink the Russian,” Dino said, and everybody laughed.

“You’d need a torpedo or two, Dino,” Stone said, “and a submarine to fire them from.”

“It was just a thought,” Dino said.

Everybody was tired, and they went to bed early. Stone was lying in bed, on the edge of sleep, when there was a soft knock at his door. “Yes?”

The door opened, Phil walked into the room, clad in what Stone suspected was only a terry robe, and sat on the edge of his bed. “You’re not asleep yet,” she said. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

Stone sat up. “And whose idea was that?”

“Mine,” she said. “Shep is a heavy sleeper, and I’m not. Have I offended you?”

“Not in the least,” Stone said, “but together, we might offend our host. However, you’ve given me an idea.” He picked up his cell phone and called a number, which was quickly answered. “Hello, there,” Stone said.

“What a nice surprise,” Brooke said.

“Are you up for a little travel tomorrow?”

“Where?”

“I can’t tell you that, but you’ll know when you arrive. Can you drive a Vespa?”

“I owned one in college.”

“Okay, here’s how it goes: Fred will pick you up tomorrow morning and drive you to Teterboro, then into a large hangar, where there will be a light jet called a Citation M2. You will board that and be flown for less than an hour. When you land, there will be a Vespa reserved for you. Write down these directions.” He gave her instructions on finding the house. “There will be a sign saying ‘private’ on the front gate. Don’t stop. Continue down the road to the village, make a few turns to make it difficult to be followed; narrow streets are best. Then drive out of town, back to the house, then around the house, and park in the shed with the other scooters and scratch at the back door of the house.”

“What clothes shall I bring?”

“Beachy, country clothes. You won’t need a ball gown. If Fred picks you up at ten, you’ll be here for lunch.”

“Got it!” she said.

“Sweet dreams.” They both hung up.

“I think that’s a better solution to my problem,” Stone said.

“I’m disappointed, but I can’t deny that.”

“Go make Shep happy,” he said, and she left, closing the door softly behind her.